HONG KONG: A general strike in Hong Kong descended into citywide mayhem on Monday as defiant protesters started fires outside police stations and hurled bricks and eggs at officers.

After disrupting traffic early in the day, they filled public parks and squares in several districts, refusing to disperse even as police repeatedly fired tear gas and rubber bullets from above.

While previous large rallies over the past two months of anti-government protests have generally been held over the weekends, Monday’s strike paralysed regular city operations in an effort to draw more attention to the movement’s demands.

Hong Kong is on “the verge of a very dangerous situation,” said Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who insisted that she has no plans to resign despite the ongoing tumult.

Lam said at a news conference that the current protests had “ulterior motives” that threaten Hong Kong’s prosperity and security. “I don’t think at this point in time, resignation of myself or some of my colleagues would provide a better solution,” she said.

Protesters challenged law enforcement in at least eight districts, responding to repeated rounds of tear gas with practiced swiftness. They lobbed the canisters back at police and yelled invectives. When police arrived on the scene, the protesters clacked their umbrellas together and pounded on metal street signs, daring the officers to move closer.

“Gangsters!” they jeered at the riot police. “Reclaim Hong Kong, revolution of our time,” they chanted.

In one neighbourhood after nightfall, a band of men wielding wooden poles charged at protesters from behind a thin road lane divider. The demonstrators fought back by throwing traffic cones, metal barricades and rods of their own.

The general strike led to more than 200 flight cancellations at the city’s airport, Hong Kong media reported.

“Too much. Why do they have to create trouble for people not involved in their cause?” said John Chan, whose flight to Singapore was cancelled.

“Hong Kong is sinking. The government, police and protest people have to stop fighting and give us a break.” Protesters also snarled the Monday morning rush hour by blocking train and platform doors, preventing subway and commuter rail trains from leaving their stations. Mass transit authorities said a large number of people activated train and platform alarms and threw objects onto train tracks.

The strikes are the latest development in a summer of fiery demonstrations against proposed extradition legislation that would have allowed some suspects to be sent to mainland China for trials.

While the government has since suspended the bill, protesters have pressed on with broader calls for it to be scrapped entirely, along with demands for democratic reforms including the dissolution of the current legislature and an investigation into alleged police brutality.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 under a framework of “one country, two systems,” which promised the city certain democratic freedoms not afforded to the mainland. But some Hong Kong residents feel that Beijing has been increasingly encroaching on those rights.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2019